Saudi Arabia’s share in the chemicals industry and chemical products within the GCC during 2010 exceeded 70 percent to the total $73.2 billion of investment, followed by Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, UAE and Bahrain, according to latest statistics issued by the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) revealed on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia, being one of the leading exporters in the region, its exports of chemicals and chemical products amounted to $10.8 billion in 2005. Exports increased to $16.2 billion in 2008. Due to the global economic crisis, the figure decreased to $13.7 billion. The Kingdom’s imports also increased from about $5 billion in 2005 to $8.5 billion, while the same decreased to $7.6 billion in 2009, according to the latest GOIC statistics.
As for Qatar, which is ranked second as an exporter of chemicals and chemical products, its exports in 2005 amounted to nearly $1.85 billion and rose to $2.4 billion in 2006. In 2007, the same amounted to a little over $3 billion and up to $4.1 billion in 2008 before declining to $2.1 billion in 2009. For the successive years from 2005 to 2009, Qatar imports reached $580 million, $750 million, a little more than $1 billion, $1.3 billion and finally $1.5 billion in 2009.
Recent years have seen a steady rise in imports and exports of chemicals and chemical products in the GCC countries. Exports reached $14 billion in 2005 and up to $16.2 billion in 2006 and $20.7 billion in 2007. In 2008, they reached approximately $26 billion, before they were affected by the global crisis. In 2009 they declined to $22 billion.
In 2005, imports were estimated at nearly US$ 10.8 billion. They rose in successive years, respectively, to nearly US$ 14 billion, 17.9 billion, US$ 23.2 billion in 2008, falling to US$ 20.7 billion in 2009.
The data provided by the GOIC Industrial Information Management (IIM) outlined that approximately 1006 industrial facilities were operating in the field of chemicals and chemical products in the GCC countries, according to the Standard International Industrial Classification in its fourth application under clause number 20. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are ranked at the top with 405 plants each, followed by Oman with 80 facilities, Kuwait with 48 facilities and finally Bahrain with 37 facilities and Qatar with 31 facilities.
The IIM revealed that the total investments in chemicals and chemical products industry in 2010 in the GCC countries reached $73.2 billion. Saudi Arabia’s contribution is estimated at nearly 51.2 billion, followed by Qatar at about $10.5 billion, while Kuwait ranked third with its contribution estimated at $4.6 billion. Oman ranks fourth with $4.2 billion. The contribution of UAE is $2 billion while that of Bahrain is estimated at approximately $488 million.
According to the GOIC figures the number of workers in the GCC chemicals and chemical products industry is estimated at 83,835 in 2010. The largest percentage is in Saudi Arabia, with about 48,612 workers (58%), followed by the UAE with 19,016 workers (22.7%), Kuwait with approximately 5589 workers (6.7%), Qatar with 4494 workers (5.4%), Oman with 4128 workers (4.9%), and Bahrain with 1996 workers (2.4%).